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Smith has no regrets after sealing Boccia silver

on 08-09-2012 17:00

British Boccia star David Smith added Individual silver to his Team bronze and paid tribute to the class of Thailand's Pattaya Tadtong, who won their BC1 final 7-0 in front of a packed ExCeL South Hall.

Tadtong sank to his knees in celebration after a display of accuracy and power that world no. 2 Smith did well to keep in some check.

"I gave it my best shot but he was too classy for me on the day. No regrets, I'm happy,” said Smith, who comes from Eastleigh in Hampshire.

“He was on fire. I just tried to keep the score down and get some of my own ends but unfortunately that didn't happen.

“I hit everything I tried to hit. Things didn't quite come off but I gave it my all. He's a worthy winner so congratulations to him.”

It was the second meeting between the two after Tadtong’s Thailand team cruised to an 18-1 victory over Smith’s GB quartet in the team BC1-2 semi-final on Monday, on the way to a gold medal.

He took the lead 2-0 in a tense first end and 23 year old Smith, who is studying for a degree in Aerospace Engineering at Swansea University, could not get back on terms despite some very aggressive play.

“The crowd was awesome,” said Smith. “I wanted to put on a show for them and give them something to cheer about and hopefully I did that. My family are here and that means a lot to me.

Smith, who won Team gold in Beijing, added: “I've got the set now. It would have been nice to add another gold but it wasn't to be. All I wanted at this Paralympics was to be the best I can be.

“Silver medalist sounds pretty good.”

Smith's girlfriend, Kathryn, said before these Games that she would not marry him unless he came home with a medal.

Asked how he stood after taking two, he replied: “You'll have to ask her that one.”

Earlier in the day, Scotsman Stephen McGuire had to settle for his second fourth-placed finish of the Games when he lost 5-3 to world no. 1 Eliseu Dos Santos of Brazil in the BC4 bronze medal match.

“It's all done now – two fourth positions. But I'm proud of what I've done. He's the world number one and he's there on merit,” said McGuire, describing the second end as “the killer”.

Dos Santos took a 5-0 lead at that point, after precision play by both men, the Brazilian filling a tiny gap between McGuire's ball and the jack.

“I played a fantastic shot and I had a ball on top which was wedged and somehow he moved it and left his on top and as a result he got four,” McGuire explained

“I've never seen anyone do that before in my life but credit to him he is the world number one and he can do things like that. I just couldn't live with his consistency in that end.”

McGuire also finished fourth in the Pairs event earlier this week, along with brother Peter, who was hospitalised with a chest inflection but came out to play the final two games.

He said of his brother: “I've never met such a fighter in my life. He's played probably the best Boccia of his life this week and considering he has been ill he's been fantastic.

“I've loved the whole experience, the venue and the atmosphere. I've played world and European finals but this is my first Paralympic Games and I've never experienced anything like this home crowd.”

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